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Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, 6 September (IUCN) – Limiting illegal trade in threatened species, promoting nature-based solutions to climate change and accounting for biodiversity conservation in the development of renewables are among the first global conservation priorities set today at the IUCN World Conservation Congress taking place in Hawaiʻi.

Cancun, Mexico, 8 December 2016 (IUCN) – Over 700 newly recognised bird species have been assessed for the latest update of The IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM, and 11% of them are threatened with extinction. The update also reveals a devastating decline for the giraffe, driven by habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting. The global giraffe population has plummeted by up to 40% over the last 30 years, and the species has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.

IUCN welcomes the recent declaration by the President of Mexico, His Excellency Mr Enrique Peña Nieto, of the establishment of four new protected areas in Mexico. This step will significantly accelerate global progress towards the global Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2020 target to protect at least 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas, and 10% of coastal and marine areas.

Today, the government of Brazil committed to restoring 12 million hectares of deforested land under the Bonn Challenge, joining 38 other countries, associations and companies in the global restoration effort. The announcement was made by Brazil’s Minister of the Environment José Sarney Filho at the Thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 13) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cancun, Mexico, where the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is highlighting the role of forest landscape restoration (FLR) in achieving international biodiversity targets.